The Effect of Long-Lasting Swimming on Rats Skeletal Muscles Energy Metabolism after Nine Days of Dexamethasone Treatment

This study investigates the effect of Dexamethasone (Dex) treatment on blood and skeletal muscle metabolites level and skeletal muscle activity of enzymes related to energy metabolism after long-duration swimming. To evaluate whether Dex treatment, swimming, and combining these factors act on analyzed data, rats were randomly divided into four groups: saline treatment non-exercise and exercise and Dex treatment non-exercised and exercised. Animals in both exercised groups underwent long-lasting swimming. The concentration of lipids metabolites, glucose, and lactate were measured in skeletal muscles and blood according to standard colorimetric and fluorimetric methods. Also, activities of enzymes related to aerobic and anaerobic metabolism were measured in skeletal muscles. The results indicated that Dex treatment induced body mass loss and increased lipid metabolites in the rats’ blood but did not alter these changes in skeletal muscles. Interestingly, prolonged swimming applied after 9 days of Dex treatment significantly intensified changes induced by Dex; however, there was no difference in skeletal muscle enzymatic activities. This study shows for the first time the cumulative effect of exercise and Dex on selected elements of lipid metabolism, which seems to be essential for the patient’s health due to the common use of glucocorticoids like Dex.     

基于人工肌肉的仿生机器鱼关节机构设计与力学分析

在深入分析活鱼解剖结构的基础上,设计了一种人工肌肉驱动的鱼关节结构,介绍了形状记忆合金(SMA)人工肌肉元件的设计方法．对鱼的尾鳍摆动进行了力学建模,并加以简化．基于摆动过程的力矩平衡方程,对SMA驱动力矩与阻力矩、流体阻尼力矩及机构（流体）惯性力矩进行了分析,建立了各个参数之间的定量关系式．通过数据验证了模型的可靠性,为仿生机器鱼的研究提供了参考依据．     

基于人体肌肉力量的数据分析系统的设计

论文将计算机技术应用到运动生物力学的研究中,提出并实现了针对人体肌肉力量中握力、背力的实时数据采集与分析系统。系统采用运动生物力学测量装置精确采集肌肉力量的数据,利用数据库技术存储和处理测量的数据,图形化显示肌肉力量的变化曲线,计算人体肌肉力量的多种参数,对肌肉力量进行综合分析比较。文中着重介绍了系统结构、功能及软件实现。     

人眼3D肌肉控制模型

根据解剖学原理及人眼运动特征,提出了一种人眼3D肌肉控制模型.该模型由内部模型和外部模型组成,其3D运动由3类共8条肌肉控制.模型建模及驱动比较方便,并已在PC机上进行了模拟.模拟结果表明,人眼模型逼真,可较好地模拟人眼运动及表情.     

Immature Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells in Healthy Murine Arteries and Atherosclerotic Plaques: Localization and Activity

The local development of atherosclerotic lesions may, at least partly, be associated with the specific cellular composition of atherosclerosis-prone regions. Previously, it was demonstrated that a small population of immature vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) expressing both CD146 and neuron-glial antigen 2 is postnatally sustained in atherosclerosis-prone sites. We supposed that these cells may be involved in atherogenesis and can continuously respond to angiotensin II, which is an atherogenic factor. Using immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, wound migration assay xCELLigence system, and calcium imaging, we studied the functional activities of immature VSMCs in vitro and in vivo. According to our data, these cells do not express nestin, CD105, and the leptin receptor. They are localized in atherosclerosis-prone regions, and their number increases with age, from 5.7% to 23%. Immature VSMCs do not migrate to low shear stress areas and atherosclerotic lesions. They also do not have any unique response to angiotensin II. Thus, despite the localization of immature VSMCs and the presence of the link between their number and age, our study did not support the hypothesis that immature VSMCs are directly involved in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions. Additional lineage tracing studies can clarify the fate of these cells during atherogenesis.     

Transforming Growth Factor-Beta in Skeletal Muscle Wasting

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) is part of a family of molecules that is present in many body tissues and performs many different functions. Evidence has been obtained from mice and human cancer patients with bony metastases and non-metastatic disease, as well as pediatric burn patients, that inflammation leads to bone resorption and release of TGF-β from the bone matrix with paracrine effects on muscle protein balance, possibly mediated by the generation of reactive oxygen species. Whether immobilization, which confounds the etiology of bone resorption in burn injury, also leads to the release of TGF-β from bone contributing to muscle wasting in other conditions is unclear. The use of anti-resorptive therapy in both metastatic cancer patients and pediatric burn patients has been successful in the prevention of muscle wasting, thereby creating an additional therapeutic niche for this class of drugs. The liberation of TGF-β may be one way in which bone helps to control muscle mass, but further investigation will be necessary to assess whether the rate of bone resorption is the determining factor for the release of TGF-β. Moreover, whether different resorptive conditions, such as immobilization and hyperparathyroidism, also involve TGF-β release in the pathogenesis of muscle wasting needs to be investigated.     

Effect of Porcine Whole Blood Protein Hydrolysate on Slow-Twitch Muscle Fiber Expression and Mitochondrial Biogenesis via the AMPK/SIRT1 Pathway

Skeletal muscle is a heterogeneous tissue composed of a variety of functionally different fiber types. Slow-twitch type I muscle fibers are rich with mitochondria, and mitochondrial biogenesis promotes a shift towards more slow fibers. Leucine, a branched-chain amino acid (BCAA), regulates slow-twitch muscle fiber expression and mitochondrial function. The BCAA content is increased in porcine whole-blood protein hydrolysates (PWBPH) but the effect of PWBPH on muscle fiber type conversion is unknown. Supplementation with PWBPH (250 and 500 mg/kg for 5 weeks) increased time to exhaustion in the forced swimming test and the mass of the quadriceps femoris muscle but decreased the levels of blood markers of exercise-induced fatigue. PWBPH also promoted fast-twitch to slow-twitch muscle fiber conversion, elevated the levels of mitochondrial biogenesis markers (SIRT1, p-AMPK, PGC-1α, NRF1 and TFAM) and increased succinate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase activities in ICR mice. Similarly, PWBPH induced markers of slow-twitch muscle fibers and mitochondrial biogenesis in C2C12 myotubes. Moreover, AMPK and SIRT1 inhibition blocked the PWBPH-induced muscle fiber type conversion in C2C12 myotubes. These results indicate that PWBPH enhances exercise performance by promoting slow-twitch muscle fiber expression and mitochondrial function via the AMPK/SIRT1 signaling pathway.     

介电弹性体致动器及其应变响应研究

用介电弹性体制作的致动器,具有变形量大、能驱动较大的负载、可塑性很好的特点.给出了一种使用介电弹性体制作基本致动器的方法,对电极、预应变等对该方法制作的致动器的影响进行了实验研究.结果表明,电极的柔软度必须与材料的性质匹配.太硬的电极会使应变变小,而太柔的电极会使薄膜易于击穿.预应变虽减弱了单位电压下的变形量,但却能提高致动器的最大应变量.     

高速开关阀驱动的气动肌肉关节的滑模变结构跟踪控制

建立了PWM高速开关阀控制的气动人工肌肉单关节的4阶SISO动态数学模型，针对实现轨迹跟踪目标，采用输入输出线性化方法得到相对阶数为3的等价系统，该等价系统零动态渐近稳定。由于系统具有参数不确定性和未建模动态特性，采用了带积分的滑模变结构控制。实验结果表明，采用基于等效降阶模型的鲁棒控制，当模型存在误差时，能在关节的整个运动范围内实现较高精度的轨迹跟踪，且对气源压力和负载变化等外加干扰具有良好的鲁棒性。     

An image processing pipeline to detect and segment nuclei in muscle fiber microscopic images

Muscle fiber images play an important role in the medical diagnosis and treatment of many muscular diseases. The number of nuclei in skeletal muscle fiber images is a key bio‐marker of the diagnosis of muscular dystrophy. In nuclei segmentation one primary challenge is to correctly separate the clustered nuclei. In this article, we developed an image processing pipeline to automatically detect, segment, and analyze nuclei in microscopic image of muscle fibers. The pipeline consists of image pre‐processing, identification of isolated nuclei, identification and segmentation of clustered nuclei, and quantitative analysis. Nuclei are initially extracted from background by using local Otsu's threshold. Based on analysis of morphological features of the isolated nuclei, including their areas, compactness, and major axis lengths, a Bayesian network is trained and applied to identify isolated nuclei from clustered nuclei and artifacts in all the images. Then a two‐step refined watershed algorithm is applied to segment clustered nuclei. After segmentation, the nuclei can be quantified for statistical analysis. Comparing the segmented results with those of manual analysis and an existing technique, we find that our proposed image processing pipeline achieves good performance with high accuracy and precision. The presented image processing pipeline can therefore help biologists increase their throughput and objectivity in analyzing large numbers of nuclei in muscle fiber images. Microsc. Res. Tech. 77:547–559, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.